Vegetation consists of Pisonia grandis, Tournefortia argentea, Casuarina equisetifolia, and Pandanus tectorius.

From a boating perspective, a good thing about Lady Musgrave reef is that one can enter the lagoon via a deep water channel.

The area also has many visits by both passing vessels cruising the Queensland coast and day trippers in fast jet catamarans (typically Lady Musgrave Island).

The southern cays and reefs were first charted between 1819 and 1821 by Lieutenant Phillip Parker King Royal Navy, initially in the Mermaid and later in the Bathurst.

The main charting exercise for all the islands and reefs was carried out in 1843 under the command of Captain Francis Price Blackwood in HMS Fly which was accompanied by the Bramble.

The naturalist, Professor J. Beete Jukes, was on board the Fly and his published journal provides valuable information on some of the cays.

An extract from the original miners helps paint the picture of the operations on Lady Musgrave "We had a good run across, and pitched camp a short distance above the crown of the beach, the cutter anchoring in the capacious lagoon.

This has the important distinction of having a narrow deep-water entrance, enabling small vessels to enter or leave at any time of the tide.

A permanent beacon at each end of the channel would be very useful" ....... On Lady Musgrave "The phosphate-guano deposits proved very meagre.

Operations on a minor scale were carried on at Lady Musgrave at the same time, a ketch being employed to lighter cargoes across to the sailing vessels loading at the other island.

[9] The caretakers were Mr & Mrs Bell and they "discourage the removal of marine growth in every way and to assist in this object specimens of the reef life are not even collected for display purposes at the settlement".

[11] At about 03:40 on 25 March 1985 the Australian registered ship TNT Alltrans grounded on Lady Musgrave Island, while on a voyage from Gladstone, Queensland to the port of Bluff, New Zealand.

The ship then proceeded under its own power at reduced speed to Newcastle, New South Wales for assessment of the damage and, subsequently, permanent repairs.

That the grounding was directly caused by the failure of the officer of the watch to control the navigation of the ship over an extended period.

As the island is well outside the light cone of coastal cities, the stargazing is spectacular, with nightly meteor showers not uncommon.

The extreme edges of the coral lagoon should generally be avoided during tidal inflow and outflow, as the pull can be quite strong.

The carcasses of noddy tern chicks that fall out of nests or adults that become tangled in the sticky Pisonia seeds are quickly devoured by centipedes and the nutrients eventually returned to the soil.

From December to May, migratory wedge-tailed shearwaters, colloquially known as 'mutton birds', nest in burrows in the interior of the island and their mournful wails can be heard at night.

These birds are readily seen along the forest walk at night and precaution must be taken to not stray from the path as the burrows easily collapse under the weight of a person.

In particular, the destruction of vegetation at Lady Musgrave Island has been documented since 1928, when Napier provided the following account: The undergrowth has been completely eaten away by a flock of goats which have inhabited the place for years, whereas every other island that we saw was clad so thickly in its green and tangled robe of grass and weed and low-hung twisted branches that the crossing of it was a long and hot and complicated task.

Occasional invasions by locusts or other insects blown from the mainland have caused severe defoliation of Pisonia as on Lady Musgrave in 1925.

From the original reports One of the boats dispatched to the wreck of the Jane Lockhart, schooner, has returned with the sails and a portion of the running and standing gear.

Captain Norris, who went down in charge of the boat, unbent the sails, so that the position of the vessel might as much as possible remain unaltered; he left the yards and masts standing.

and 6 months later it was reported as The Rose, schooner, has returned from the wreck of the Jane Lockhart, on Masthead Reef, whither she went on June 15 Captain Dwyer informs us that the Jane Lockhart still lies in a very snug position, and he has no doubt but that himself, and Mr Norris, the purchaser of the wreck, will be able, ultimately, to raise the vessel and bring her safely to Rockhampton Nearly the whole of the period that they were at the reef, very heavy weather prevailed, staving operations towards the recovery of the cargo, but luckily the strong SE winds lulled for about three days Captain Dwyer availed himself of the occasion, set to work, rigged up a staging between the masts of the Lockhart, schooner, and by means of a rope and a South Sea Island diver, managed to bring up from eighty to ninety large iron pulley wheels, besides a quantity of machinery and sundries, comprising Ale, porter, liqueur brandy, cutlery, ironmongery, etc Unfortunately the Roses water ran out, much to the chagrin of the crew, who would have raised a great deal more, only having to run into port for supplies[27] Bannockburn An 85 feet long, 110 ton, Brigantine built at Mechanic's Bay, Auckland in 1880 on 9 November 1884 struck no.1 Bunker Island and was refloated after cargo (timber) salvaged, taken to Rockhampton.

[28] Kokotu Motor Vessel Struck a reef off Lady Musgrave Island during cyclone Emily, 1 April 1972.

[29] A Maule M-7 seaplane (registration VH-JLU) carrying passengers from Lady Musgrave Island crashed during take-off on Monday 5 January 1998 with the occupants sustaining only minor injuries.